France, Italy bring in flights to take back their citizens

PANAJI: In addition to the two German and Finnish relief flights that took off from Goa International Airport on Tuesday and Wednesday with 647 passengers, Italy and France also announced rescue flights to repatriate their citizens and stranded EU citizens.
Airports Authority of India officials said that, since March 25, eight relief flights have flown out of Goa carrying 1,577 passengers to their destinations.
On Wednesday, France in collaboration with TBI and Qatar Airways operated a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner to fly out French nationals and other foreigners stranded in Goa since March 20, when India cancelled all international flights.
The French rescue flight QR3281 operated will fly to Doha and from there the passengers will fly to Paris, sources said. Officials from the French consulate were present at the airport to coordinate with local authorities.
The Italian flag carrier, Alitalia will fly out to Goa on Thursday and depart at 11.30am the same day with Italian and Belgian tourists.
“Eighth relief flight from Goa Airport took off for Frankfurt via Mumbai with 314 passengers by a chartered Air India flight. Total 1,568 adults and nine infants have taken off since March 25 to their destinations. We are gearing up for more relief flights,” Goa Airport director Gagan Malik said.
Efforts to repatriate foreign nationals stranded in Goa continue with foreign embassies, the Union civil aviation ministry, ministry of external affairs and Goa police coordinating to provide safe passage to the tourists.
The British government has yet to announce any rescue flights for its citizens, but AAI officials said that talks were on to provide landing slots for possible flights.
However, sources also said that several Britishers had succeeded in flying to Frankfurt on flights organised by the German embassy. On a humanitarian basis, Germany has agreed to fly our citizens of UK and European Union nations to Frankfurt at no cost, said a UK citizen who availed of the offer.
Finland, Russia and Israel also organised rescue flights for their citizens.